Readers’ letters - March 29

I see that the Liverpool supporters were demonstrating about season tickets being increased by £77.

I don’t blame them. For any supporter on the minimum wage of approximately £7 an hour, they would have to work nearly a day and a half just to cover the increase!

But who do you blame for this scandalous state of affairs?

I, for one, blame Sky TV, followed by the money­grabbing owners of top clubs.

A classic example of the state of what used to be the ‘working man’s’ game is the comment made by the Arsenal manager, Arsene Wenger, who stated that the new extra millions the Premier League will receive from Sky/ BT will not be used to reduce ticket prices for the fans. It will be used to buy players and pay agents! There was a report on TV last week that Man City are reputedly going to offer £145m to buy Neymar from Barcelona. That’s not counting his wages and his agent’s – and he’s only one player in the Man City set­-up!

So the winners are the players and their agents – not the fans. I certainly don’t blame the players for taking the money if it’s offered to them.

How anyone who supports the top Premier League clubs can afford one I don’t know.

I most certainly won’t pay the exorbitant money Sky want for me to have Sky Sports etc. ­ A friend of mine, who pays Sky nearly £100 a month, says he has it just to watch football and cricket, but that £100 will certainly rise, won’t it?

Soon, Sky and BT will control and own every sport going, making it nearly impossible for the average fan to go and see a live match.

On the subject of owners, they buy football clubs for one reason only: Profit! They, like the Glazers who own Man Utd, have no real interest or passion for the game, the same thing goes for the Liverpool owners.

To me, the Government and the monopolies commission should step in and introduce a law making it compulsory for football and cricket – our two main national sports – to be equally shared out between all four terrestrial TV channels, as well as Sky and BT.

Perhaps then we wouldn’t have overpaid, 20-­year­-old prima donna average players becoming millionaires overnight, and the sports I grew up with to play and love can become affordable to the

working man once more...but I doubt it.

The Ghost of Sir Tom

via email

politics

Austerity has failed Britain

Chancellor Osborne’s latest Budget is a catalogue of his failed austerity policies.

Public sector borrowing and national debt are way off targets set by him. The economy is declining with the key manufacturing sector in meltdown. To counter such a calamitous record of failure, what does the Chancellor do?

He dons the cloak of King John and hammers the poor and vulnerable to give tax cuts to business and wealthier tax payers. Instead of robbing the poor, Osborne should pull the plug on HS2, replacement of Trident and the building of nuclear power stations, thus saving billions and nullifying the need to penalise the disabled. Failing this, the growing ranks of Tory rebel MPs should unite with the opposition to defeat these immoral measures.

Glyn Powell via email

sport

Five not three

Surely, in the age of pay and gender equality in sport, women’s tennis matches should be decided by the best of five sets in Grand Slam tournaments rather than three?